diff --git a/include/git2/clone.h b/include/git2/clone.h
index 3481f254c9d..ae51e633b7b 100644
--- a/include/git2/clone.h
+++ b/include/git2/clone.h
@@ -161,6 +161,12 @@ typedef struct git_clone_options {
 	 * This parameter is ignored unless remote_cb is non-NULL.
 	 */
 	void *remote_cb_payload;
+	
+	/*
+	 * The refspecs to use for the clone. If empty, all refs will be cloned.
+	 * example: {"main:main", "HEAD"}
+	 */
+	git_strarray refspecs;
 } git_clone_options;
 
 #define GIT_CLONE_OPTIONS_VERSION 1
diff --git a/src/libgit2/clone.c b/src/libgit2/clone.c
index 0d393eb858a..9aadb0f17a7 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/clone.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/clone.c
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ static int checkout_branch(git_repository *repo, git_remote *remote, const git_c
 	return error;
 }
 
-static int clone_into(git_repository *repo, git_remote *_remote, const git_fetch_options *opts, const git_checkout_options *co_opts, const char *branch)
+static int clone_into(git_repository *repo, git_remote *_remote, const git_fetch_options *opts, const git_checkout_options *co_opts, const char *branch, const git_strarray *refspecs)
 {
 	int error;
 	git_str reflog_message = GIT_STR_INIT;
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ static int clone_into(git_repository *repo, git_remote *_remote, const git_fetch
 	fetch_opts.download_tags = GIT_REMOTE_DOWNLOAD_TAGS_ALL;
 	git_str_printf(&reflog_message, "clone: from %s", git_remote_url(remote));
 
-	if ((error = git_remote_fetch(remote, NULL, &fetch_opts, git_str_cstr(&reflog_message))) != 0)
+	if ((error = git_remote_fetch(remote, refspecs, &fetch_opts, git_str_cstr(&reflog_message))) != 0)
 		goto cleanup;
 
 	error = checkout_branch(repo, remote, co_opts, branch, git_str_cstr(&reflog_message));
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ static int git__clone(
 		else if (clone_local == 0)
 			error = clone_into(
 				repo, origin, &options.fetch_opts, &options.checkout_opts,
-				options.checkout_branch);
+				options.checkout_branch, options.refspecs.count == 0 ? NULL : &options.refspecs);
 		else
 			error = -1;